Roasted Tomatillo Stewed Chickpeas

Chickpeas are my new food obsession. They are like these tender and hearty morsels of yumminess, and they have way better flavor and texture than other beans – less mushy, more tasty! This recipe right here, friends, is THA best chickpea recipe I’ve ever had. Here’s the situation we’re talkin’ about here – tomatillos, red onions, and garlic roast in the oven and are then pureed. Meanwhile, the chickpeas are seared in a pan and then coated in delicious spices. Then our delicious tomatillo puree goes in there to party with the chickpeas and they stew together for several minutes along with a little chicken (or veggie) stock.

Spoon over rice, eat, and die of food-induced bliss. The end.

The flavors here are just crazy delicious between the oven roasted veggies and the spice blend that the chickpeas are seasoned with. It’s fragrant, hearty, super healthy, and induces a never ending flavor party in yo mouth. This is one of those vegetarian recipes that leaves you ULTRA satisfied and not missing the meat, and it keeps you full for hours and hours!

The other cool thing about this recipe is that it ends up almost tasting creamy as if you’ve added coconut milk or heavy cream. But there’s none of that in there, just the veggies, chickpeas, and stock. I think that creamy, decadent element comes from two things: the thick, pureed, ultra flavorful tomatillos/red onions and the texture of the chickpeas, which are soft on the inside.

Soft on the inside, but not mushy. Usually canned beans definitely have a “mush factor” goin’ on. If you made this recipe with black beans or cannelini beans, they would fall apart and mash a little bit through the cooking process, but the chickpeas stand up to the stirring and simmering, hold their shape, and don’t leave you with a pan of mush.

Let’s just go over a few reasons why I’m currently riding the chickpea train to flavor city:

There are just so many things you can do with them! Join me in my chickpea love. JOIN ME.

If you follow the blog at all, you know my husband is deployed right now. So one thing that’s great about deployments is the motivation to eat super healthy and get fit while your person is gone. There are several different motivational factors happening all at once here:

It’s a great time for self improvement in general because you are on your own for almost a year, and you have way more time to focus on yourself.

You aren’t doing as many things that hinder your healthy/fitness journey in the first place – i.e. going on dates, deciding to order pizza on a lazy Tuesday, wanting to spend time with the other person instead of going to the gym, etc…

You aren’t seeing your husband for 9 months, and it sounds fun to go on a mission to look awesome with a capital “A” when they get home. It makes it that much more exciting when they get back!

Overall, it’s basically the only thing I like about deployments. The rest of it sucks. The last time Seth was gone, I did the 21 Day Fix for several months, which I loved. And this time, I have been doing Weight Watchers for a big chunk of it. However – problem – it’s WAY HARDER to work out when you have a baby. Getting to gym is nearly impossible, and at-home workouts are hard to prioritize when you have so much other stuff going on.

Lately, I’ve been doing workout videos when Ford goes to bed, buuuttt those aren’t really my faves. I’ll do them anyway, but they just aren’t my faves. So in order to kind of fix the gym problem, we decided to start building up a little mini home gym at our house. Seth is super into working out, so it’ll be great for him when he gets home and way easier for us to work out together.

We always save up credit card rewards all year and then decide on a big purchase we want to use them for. Last year, we redid all our bedding and got super fancy new sheets, a comforter, new pillows, etc…(BEST DECISION EVER). This year we are cashing them in for some home gym equipment. Just two things, but big things. One – an adjustable bench. Two – a super cool set of dumbbells that you can adjust the weight on so they are space saving but really useful and efficient.

All of this is getting in on Friday…it’ll be interesting to see how I’m able to set that up by myself…I may need to enlist help.

This recipe is great for anyone on a health and fitness journey, because it’s filling and great for you! If you are doing Weight Watchers, it’s only TWO points for a serving! Win.

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees

Lay your tomatillos cut side down on a baking sheet along with your red onion and garlic cloves. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss/rub until veggies are all evenly coated.

Roast in the oven for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven, squeeze the garlic cloves out of their peels, and puree everything in a food processor or blender until totally smooth. Set aside

Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium high heat with your other tablespoon of olive oil. When hot, add your drained chickpeas along with some salt and pepper and sear for several minutes until they have developed some golden brown color

Stir in your seasonings (paprika, coriander, cumin, curry powder, pepper flakes) and sear for another minute or two

Add your pureed tomatillo mixture to the pot with the chickpeas, and pour in your chicken stock

Simmer for several minutes, season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve over rice! (Cilantro is an optional – and yummy! – garnish)

Nutrition

Serving Size:1/2 cup

Calories:232

Sugar:4 g

Sodium:679 mg

Fat:9 g

Carbohydrates:36 g

Fiber:12 g

Protein:10 g

If you make this or any of my other recipes, be sure to Instagram it and hashtag #thegarlicdiaries!